Piaggio P180 Avanti Down Off Costa Rica

[PHXPhlyer]

German business owner behind Gold’s Gym among 6 feared dead in small plane crash off Costa Rica
Costa Rican authorities said pieces of the twin-engine turboprop aircraft were found in the water Saturday, after the flight went missing Friday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ge ... -rcna53598

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Six people, apparently including the German businessman behind Gold’s Gym, were feared dead Saturday after a small plane crashed into the Caribbean just off the Costa Rican coast.

All five passengers were believed to be German citizens, Security Minister Jorge Torres said. The plane’s pilot was Swiss. At least one other of those aboard the plane appeared to be a relative of Schaller.


Six people feared dead in plane crash near Costa Rica

Costa Rican authorities said pieces of the twin-engine turboprop aircraft were found in the water Saturday, after the flight went missing Friday.

A flight plan filed for the small, charter plane listed Rainer Schaller as a passenger. A man by the same name runs international chains of fitness and gym outlets, including Gold’s Gym and McFit. At least one other of those aboard the plane seemed to be a relative of Schaller, but the relation was not immediately confirmed by authorities.

Martín Arias, Costa Rica’s assistant security minister, said no bodies had been found yet at the site, about 17 miles (28 kilometers) off the coast from the Limon airport.

“Pieces have been found that indicate that this is the aircraft,” Arias said. “Up to now we have not found any bodies dead or alive.”

The plane was a nine-seat Italian-made Piaggio P180 Avanti, known for its distinctive profile.

The plane disappeared from radar as it was heading to Limon, a resort town on the coast.

The security minister said the flight had set out from Mexico.

“Around six in the afternoon we received an alert about a flight coming from Mexico to the Limon airport, carrying five German passengers,” Torres said. A search started immediately but was called off temporarily due to bad weather.

Rainer Schaller is listed as “Founder, Owner and CEO of the RSG Group,” a conglomerate of 21 fitness, lifestyle and fashion brands that operates in 48 countries and has 41,000 employees, either directly or through franchises.

Schaller was in the news in 2010 for his role as organizer of the Berlin Love Parade techno festival. A crush at the event killed 21 people and injured more than 500. Authorities at the time said Schaller’s security failed to stop the flow of people into a tunnel when the situation was already tense at the entrance to the festival grounds.

Schaller fought back against the accusations of wrongdoing, noting that his security concept received official city approval.

PP

[TheGreenAnger]

German business owner behind Gold’s Gym among 6 feared dead in small plane crash off Costa Rica
Costa Rican authorities said pieces of the twin-engine turboprop aircraft were found in the water Saturday, after the flight went missing Friday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ge ... -rcna53598

The plane was a nine-seat Italian-made Piaggio P180 Avanti, known for its distinctive profile.

The plane disappeared from radar as it was heading to Limon, a resort town on the coast.

The security minister said the flight had set out from Mexico.

“Around six in the afternoon we received an alert about a flight coming from Mexico to the Limon airport, carrying five German passengers,” Torres said. A search started immediately but was called off temporarily due to bad weather.

PP

The P180 seats 9 (including 2 pilots) and thus isn't that small. They are distinctive mostly for the wonderful howling noise they make and can be heard from miles away. There is a scheduled Avanti flight every Thursday over the LAM locally here, and the aircraft can he heard coming and going for what seems forever.

[Ex-Ascot]

Now that just doesn't look right.

[Boac]

Yup - bound to crash with the engines on backwards, innit?

[Ex-Ascot]

I am just trying to imagine how that thing would perform on a ditching.

[PHXPhlyer]

German business owner behind Gold’s Gym among 6 feared dead in small plane crash off Costa Rica
Costa Rican authorities said pieces of the twin-engine turboprop aircraft were found in the water Saturday, after the flight went missing Friday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ge ... -rcna53598

The plane was a nine-seat Italian-made Piaggio P180 Avanti, known for its distinctive profile.

The plane disappeared from radar as it was heading to Limon, a resort town on the coast.

The security minister said the flight had set out from Mexico.

“Around six in the afternoon we received an alert about a flight coming from Mexico to the Limon airport, carrying five German passengers,” Torres said. A search started immediately but was called off temporarily due to bad weather.

PP

The P180 seats 9 (including 2 pilots) and thus isn't that small. They are distinctive mostly for the wonderful howling noise they make and can be heard from miles away. There is a scheduled Avanti flight every Thursday over the LAM locally here, and the aircraft can he heard coming and going for what seems forever.


P180.JPG

The Avanti is quite small on the inside.
A friend flew them for a fractional operator and I got to crawl around in one when he had a layover here.
The cockpit is a tight fit but the cabin (see pic in link) is manageable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_P.180_Avanti
The size is among the design components that makes this turboprop so efficient and competitive with jets.

PP

[TheGreenAnger]

The Avanti is quite small on the inside.
A friend flew them for a fractional operator and I got to crawl around in one when he had a layover here.
The cockpit is a tight fit but the cabin (see pic in link) is manageable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_P.180_Avanti
The size is among the design components that makes this turboprop so efficient and competitive with jets.

PP

A fast TARDIS with a banshee wail!

[PHXPhlyer]

The fractional operator that my friend flew for had around 50 aircraft under management IIRC.
They went under and screwed most of the owners when they got caught out by their maintenance recordkeeping (or lack thereof) practices. They were swapping rotable parts plane to plane without any documentation, thus grounding the fleet, and costing the owners a lot of money to replace undocumented parts to make them airworthy again.
Their distinctive sound was routinely heard here until the grounding, now seldom heard.

PP

[PHXPhlyer]

Juan Browne (BlancoLirio) has an analysis of what's known so far:



PP